Downtown St. Pete courthouse tops out
By Henry Queen
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 6, 2024

The new Bernie McCabe Second District Court of Appeal Courthouse in downtown St. Petersburg is one step closer to opening in late 2025.

The courthouse recently topped out, with Skanska placing the final piece of structural steel for the approximately 52,000-square-foot building at 525 Mirror Lake Drive.

The Swedish general contractor estimated the project to cost about $59 million. The Florida Legislature agreed to spend $50 million on it in 2021 and another $9 million in 2023.

"Our team is incredibly proud to build this landmark courthouse strategically positioned to better serve the community,” Tracy Hunt, executive vice president and general manager for Skanska’s Florida building operations, said in a statement. “For years, we’ve had the great pleasure of constructing vital projects throughout the greater Tampa Bay region and we’re honored to continue that legacy with the addition of the Second District Court of Appeal’s courthouse in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg.”

Skanska is a major construction player in the Tampa Bay area. The Tampa Bay Rays and Hines, for example, recently chose Skanska to be the owner’s representative for the biggest development in the region's history: the Historic Gas Plant district in downtown St. Pete.

This courthouse is located on the site of the Sebring Building, which hosted state departments such as the department of education and health department and was owned and operated by the Florida Department of Management Services. It closed in 2022.

The Second District Court of Appeal has 15 judges and covers Pasco, Pinellas, DeSoto, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota counties. That's a smaller footprint than prior to a 2023 realignment that created a sixth district. Right now, the second district hears in-person oral arguments in a teaching courtroom in Stetson's Tampa Law Center. Its previous home was at the Lawton M. Chiles Jr. Courthouse in Lakeland, but that facility was built in 1961 and it eventually presented health issues.

The new St. Pete courthouse's name pays homage to Bernie McCabe, a local attorney who served as the area’s top prosecutor for almost three decades. He died in 2021.